Storms Shut Port

The Shipping News found itself atop Cantonment Hill around lunchtime today to capture a stormy day vista. A tad brave, you might say, given the BOM severe weather alerts that kept pinging on the iPhone. But we were rewarded with this pic.

Then we noticed there wasn’t a ship in Port, apart from the Atlantic Spirit, a supply vessel, tied up near the Fremantle Passenger Terminal. And as far as we could see, Gage Roads seemed free of marine traffic as well.

Strange, we thought, so we put in a call to Freo Ports and soon heard back from Neil Stanbury, Manager Communications and Community at the Port, confirming that the bad weather has, indeed, shut the Port for the time being.

This is all on top of the industrial action for 48 hours commencing last Sunday, which is set to continuing from this Sunday morning for another 48 hours.

As Neil explained to us, with the exception of the STS Leeuwin and the small supply vessel, there are no other commercial ships at berth in the Port today, due to the bad weather.

Apparently, this isn’t unprecedented, with significant weather events generally occurring two or three times a year, but conditions have been bad and, as Neil adds, ‘unwelcome’.

Neil has also told us the shipping schedule is very dynamic at the moment. Bad weather yesterday resulted in some ships being evacuated from berths by the Harbour Master as a precaution and those at anchor in Gage Roads instructed to go to sea until the weather abates.

Between 20 and 30 ships currently at sea are expected to return to anchorage or berths once the weather improves. Freo Ports’ goal is to quickly get back to normal when that happens, with the professional support of Fremantle Pilots and tug providers Svitzer.

It seems current weather conditions will continue affecting shipping operations in the days ahead, with strong winds expected again tomorrow.

The safety of ships is, of course, always a priority for Freo Ports and also the safety of landside workers. Yesterday, Freo Ports experienced lines parting on one ship at North Quay, which was effectively and safely managed.

Neil also explains that bad weather brings wind and swell that can make cargo operations impossible or unsafe. Yesterday, one container ship elected to bypass Fremantle for Sydney due to weather, to maintain its schedule. These are decisions that shipping lines elect to make based on overall assessments by them.

The weather, together with anticipated 48-hour industrial action scheduled to start again from 5.30am Sunday means Freo Ports are working very hard at the moment to modify its shipping schedule as far as possible to accommodate their customers’ needs. We are told Fremantle Ports is continuing to negotiate in good faith to seek a resolution regarding that matter, as soon as possible.

By way of interest, Fremantle receives around 1550 ship visits a year. Which, on a simple division, is about 4-5 each day of the year. So, shutting the Port, even for a few days, is more than a mere nuisance.

By Michael Barker, Editor, Fremantle Shipping News

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